Loushan Pass

Loushan Pass was the Red Army's bloodiest early triumph of the Long March, a frontal assault on a fortified mountain pass in February 1935 that Mao Zedong later immortalized in the poem 'Remembering Qin E: Loushan Pass' - 'the gentle sounds of the bugle; the harsh sound of the west wind'. The summit holds a museum, monuments, and the pass itself, which still commands the only road through the mountains.

The climb is steep but short, the views are magnificent, and the site is atmospheric in a way no textbook can convey: you can stand where the battle turned and read the poem carved into the cliff. English signage covers the battle and the march route that passed beneath.